Button-setting tool



(Ilo Model.) Y

J. MATHISON.

BU'JJTQN'SBTTING TOOL. No. 501,286. Patented July 11, 1893.

UNITED STATES `PATENT FFICE.

JOSEPH MATHISON, OF ,SOMERVILLE MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTON-SETTING Tool..

SPECIFICATION forming partv of Letters Patent No. 501,286, dated July 11, 1893.

Application tiled April 15, 1892. Serial No. 429.366. (No model.)

ting Tools, of which the following is a speci-vv iication.

My invention relates to improvements iu2 tools or implements for setting buttons, and

xo refers particularly to means for attaching to a shoe upper the two-pronged buttons of the type shown in my Patent No. 457,970, dated August 18, 1891. Heretofore it has been customary to clinch buttons ofl this type to a r 5 shoe upper at the factory, by the use of machines made for the purpose; and, if the buttons are not located properly to suit a particular wearer, it has not been practicable for the purchaser of the shoes to alter the setting, or to substitute buttons of this type for others which have been lost.

It is therefore the object of my invention to place in the hands of the public, for use at home or other convenient place, simple means 2 5 for attaching to a shoe upper a two-pronged metallic button, and I prefer to supply these means in such shape that the parts can be conveniently packed in a box with a smaller box of buttons and one or more tools to be plement separated from each other. Fig. 2.

is a front elevation of the same parts in the position which they occupy when setting a button, the lower portion of the guide and slide being in section. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing a button clinched to a portion of a 5o shoe upper. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a used in aiding the removal, if desired, of av double-pointed punch, which may be used to locate the position on an upper which the button is to occupy. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 represent modifications.

rlhe same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures. f

In the drawings: A indicates a block, having a recess a, and A is a rigid plate secured to the block over the inner end of the recess, and having a slot o. of less width than the 6o recess ce. The block Ais preferably of wood, and the plate A of steel, but they may be made integrally of metal.

B represents a long block, having a longitudinall slot or guide-way b, and B is a slide fitted to move freely along said guide-way and provided at one end with two conoavities b.

C is a punch or perforator, having two points c, which are separated by a space sub- 7o stantially equal to that between the two prongs of the button used.

In using the tool or implement described, the shoe upper having been preferably first perforated in the requisite positions bythe punch C, a button is placed on the block A by sliding its head along the recess a until the shank of said button passes into the slot a', thus leaving the prongs of the button eX- tending upwardly.I The shoe upper, or other 8o piece to which the button is to be attached, and which is indicated at y, is now placed with its previously-provided perforations over the prongs of the button. The guide-block B is then slipped over the prongs and presses 8 5 the piece y firmly down to the plate A, While it is in turn supported in a vertical position by the button prongs, which enter the sides of the slot or guide-way b. The slide B',

v which may have been previously itted in the 9o slot or which may now be slipped therein, is driven down with any suitable hammer, and

the concavities b act first to turn the prongs inward, as shown in Fig. 2, and finally clinch them iirmly. The parts B B are now lifted and the shoe upper may be removed with its attached button by sliding the button-head outward along the recess until the shank is released from the slot ct.

All of the parts described may be conven- ,roo

iently packed in a box, and I propose to also place in such 4boy. ay smallerboxof buttons, and also, preferably, a small awl to enable a purchaser to readily lift or bend up the prongs of a set button When it is desired to remove it.

The block or guide B may be tubular if desired, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the slide B being cylindrical and fitting the interior of the tubular guide. In this case the two concavities b will be parts of a continuous annular concavity. The block A may be used to hold the button and support the piece y for the action of any other suitable prong clinching device, such as a hammer. Fig. 7 shows the block and a hammer supposed to be held by the operator and about to descend on and clinch theV prongs.

I claim- 1. The button holding block or base having a rigid plate secured thereto and provided with a slot adapted to receive the neck or shank of the button and support the prongs thereof for the action of a prong clinching device, said base having a semi-circular recess Wider than the slot extending from the front end thereof and under and in line with the slot of the plate, substantiallyfas described.

2. A button setting tool or implement, comprising a prong clinching device composed of a guide block adapted to fit over the prongs of a button and a slide fitted to said guide block and having one Vend provided with prong bending concavities; and the button holding block or base having a rigid plate secured thereto and provided with a slot adapted to receive the neck or shank of the button and support the prongs thereof for the action of the prong clinching device, said base having a semi-circular recess wider than the slot extending from the front end thereof and under and in line with the slot of the plate, substantially as described.

In testimony `whereof Ihave signed my name tothisspecication, in the presenceof two subscribing Witnesses, this Gthday .of April, A. D. 1892.

JOSEPH MATHISON.

Witn esses:

C. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON. 

